Since the invention of inexpensive cameras, it has become common for people to provide photographs to accompany and illustrate letters mailed to relatives and friends. More recently, custom made postcards and Christmas cards wherein the front of the card comprises a photograph have been available. The most salient disadvantage of such custom postcards is that the photograph is often damaged during the passage of such postcards through the mails. When photographs are simply included in a conventional envelope along with a letter, they may become separated from the written message and misplaced when the envelope is opened by the recipient.
Envelopes of unitary construction using part of the surfaces used to contain a written message and part for the address are known. Furthermore, envelopes of unitary construction especially designed to contain a written message and advertising materials attached thereto, are also known. An envelope of the latter type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,720,721 to Culotta.
An envelope designed specifically for protecting a photograph during passage through the mails and furthermore to assure that photograph and message do not become separated upon opening of the envelope is described in my co-pending application Ser. No. 901,502 filed May 1, 1978, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,868 and entitled "Specialty Envelope". The specification of said co-pending application is hereby incorporated by reference.
For most written messages accompanied by a photograph, it has been found that the recipient's interest in the written message is more ephemeral than his or her interest in the accompanying photograph.